Last major update issued on May 7, 2011 at 05:05 UTC.
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[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and
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[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006
(last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update May
1, 2011)]
[POES auroral activity level charts since October
2009 - updated May 4, 2011]
Annotated geomagnetic activity charts - Carrington rotation
2107 [Feb.-March
2011] - 2108 [March-April
2011]
The geomagnetic field was quiet on May 6. Solar wind speed ranged between 346 and 432 km/s.
Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 101.9 (decreasing 3.1 over the last solar rotation). The planetary A index was 4 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 3.9). Three hour interval K indices: 01111112 (planetary), 12211111 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux is at the class B2 level.
At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 7 spotted regions.
Region 11203 displayed no significant changes and was quiet.
Region 11204 was quiet.
Region 11205 was quiet and stable.
Region 11207 decayed slowly and was quiet.
Spotted regions not numbered by NOAA/SWPC:
[S992] reemerged with a tiny spot on May
6. Location at midnight: S17E04
[S993] emerged in the northeast quadrant on May
5. Location at midnight: N15E46
[S994] emerged in the southern hemisphere near the central meridian on
May 6. Location at midnight: S23W06
May 4-6: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO and STEREO imagery.
Coronal hole history (since late October
2002)
Compare today's report to the situation one solar rotation ago:
28 days ago
27 days
ago 26
days ago
An extension of the southern polar coronal hole was probably too far to the south on May 5-6 to cause geomagnetic effects.
The darkest areas on the solar disk are likely coronal holes.
Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along paths north of due west over high and upper middle latitudes is poor to fair. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is poor to fair.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be mostly quiet on May 7-9.
| Coronal holes (1) | Coronal mass ejections (2) | M and X class flares (3) |
1) Effects from a coronal hole could reach Earth within the
next 5 days. When the high speed stream has arrived the color changes to
green.
2) Effects from a CME are likely to be observed at Earth within 96 hours.
3) There is a possibility of either M or X class flares within the next 48
hours.
Green: 0-20% probability, Yellow: 20-60% probability, Red: 60-100% probability.
(Click on image for higher resolution image) Compare to the previous day's image
When available the active region map has a coronal hole polarity overlay where red (pink) is negative and blue (blue-green) is positive.
Data for all numbered solar regions according to the Solar Region Summary provided by NOAA/SWPC. Comments are my own, as is the STAR spot count (spots observed at or inside a few hours before midnight) and data for regions not numbered by SWPC or where SWPC has observed no spots. SWPC active region numbers in the table below and in the active region map above are the historic SWPC/USAF numbers.
| Active region | Date numbered detected |
Spot count | Location at midnight | Area | Classification | SDO / HMI 4K continuum image with polarity overlay |
Comment | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWPC | STAR SDO | SWPC | STAR | Current | Previous | |||||
| 11201 | 2011.04.24 2011.04.27 |
3 | N14W84 | 0010 | AXX |
 |
plage | |||
| 11203 | 2011.04.28 | 2 | 4 | N17W28 | 0100 | HSX | CSO |
 |
 |
location: N17W24 |
| S976 | 2011.04.28 | N09W60 |
 |
plage | ||||||
| 11206 | 2011.04.29 2011.05.03 |
N22W60 | location: N22W54 plage |
|||||||
| 11204 | 2011.04.30 2011.05.02 |
12 | 19 | N17W14 | 0120 | DAO | DAO |
 |
 |
|
| 11205 | 2011.04.30 2011.05.02 |
1 | 4 | N14W05 | 0000 | AXX | BXO |
 |
 |
location: N15E04 |
| S986 | 2011.05.01 | S22W29 |
 |
plage | ||||||
| S990 | 2011.05.03 | N29E13 | plage |
|||||||
| 11207 | 2011.05.03 2011.05.05 |
3 | 5 | N24E26 | 0010 | BXO | BXO |
 |
 |
formerly region S991 location: N21E27 |
| S992 | 2011.05.04 | 1 | S17E04 | 0000 | AXX |
 |
||||
| S993 | 2011.05.05 | 4 | N15E46 | 0000 | AXX |
 |
 |
|||
| S994 | 2011.05.06 | 2 | S23W06 | 0000 | BXO |
 |
||||
| Total spot count: | 21 | 39 | ||||||||
| Sunspot number: | 71 | 109 | ||||||||
| Month | Average measured solar flux | International sunspot number (SIDC) | Smoothed sunspot number | Average ap (3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008.07 | 65.7 (SF minimum) | 0.5 | 2.8 (-0.4) | |
| 2008.12 | 69.2 | 0.8 | 1.7 (-) sunspot minimum |
3.25 |
| 2010.02 | 84.7 | 18.8 | 10.6 (+1.3) | 4.15 / 4.61 |
| 2010.03 | 83.4 | 15.4 | 12.3 (+1.7) | 4.58 / 4.65 |
| 2010.04 | 75.9 | 8.0 | 14.0 (+1.7) | 10.22 / 10.24 |
| 2010.05 | 73.8 | 8.7 | 15.5 (+1.5) | 9.18 / 8.15 |
| 2010.06 | 72.5 | 13.6 | 16.4 (+0.9) | 8.17 / 6.85 |
| 2010.07 | 79.8 | 16.1 | 16.7 (+0.3) | 6.31 / 5.15 |
| 2010.08 | 79.2 | 19.6 | 17.4 (+0.7) | 8.49 / 7.77 |
| 2010.09 | 81.1 | 25.2 | 19.6 (+2.2) | 5.33 / 5.45 |
| 2010.10 | 81.6 | 23.5 | 23.2 (+3.6) | 6.07 / 6.27 |
| 2010.11 | 82.5 | 21.5 | (26.9 predicted, +3.7) | 4.80 / 5.50 |
| 2010.12 | 84.2 | 14.4 | (30.1 predicted, +3.2) | 3.41 / 4.35 |
| 2011.01 | 83.6 | 19.1 | (33.1 predicted, +3.0) | 4.32 / 5.51 |
| 2011.02 | 94.6 | 29.4 | (35.6 predicted, +2.5) | 5.41 / 6.44 |
| 2011.03 | 115.0 | 56.2 | (37.9 predicted, +2.3) | 7.79 |
| 2011.04 | 112.6 | 54.4 | (40.8 predicted, +2.9) | 9.71 |
| 2011.05 | 106.1 (1) | 13.6 (2A) / 70.5 (2B) | (44.1 predicted, +3.3) | (11.54) |
1) Running average based on the daily 20:00 UTC observed solar flux value at
2800 MHz.
2A) Current impact on the monthly sunspot number based on the Boulder
(NOAA/SWPC) sunspot number (accumulated daily sunspots / month days). The
official SIDC international sunspot number is typically 30-50% lower. 2B) Month
average to date.
3) Running average based on the preliminary daily SWPC ap indices.
Values in red are based on the official NGDC
ap indices.
This report has been prepared by Jan Alvestad. It is based on analysis of data from whatever sources are available at the time the report is prepared. All time references are to the UTC day. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
SDO images are courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
